Fresh home-ground ginger paste is healthy whereas using the ready market paste is harmful as it has preservatives and salt.In the process of preserving many of the vitamins get destroyed.
Traditionally in the villages, earthen utensils were used and are still being used. These cook the rotis, rice, vegetables, dal and sambhar in low heat. Cooking in low heat has many health benefits whereby the delicate vitamins like the B complex vitamins don't get destroyed and are preserved and provide nutrition to the body and mind.
Traditional Indian drinks like butter mil, bel juice, coconut water, and nimbu pani provide many health benefits and nutrients. These benefits are absent when you consume bottled or tetra packed drinks.
When we cook at home we make sure that the raw dals and rice are thoroughly washed and drained which removes to a large extend the artificial colour and the pesticides in them. When we eat food in restaurants we don't know whether these precautions have been taken.
The oil/fat we use at home is what we think is healthy. Whereas, in the usual restaurants what gets used is the cheapest oil and that which will enhance the shelf life of the food.
Extracting butter at home ensures that the vitamin A and D in the butter gets preserved.
Salads can be washed adequately and liberally eaten.
At home we let the flour rise through natural mechanisms which add to the nutrient value and vitamin content of the flour (while making idlis, pakodi, other food items which require the flour to rise). In ready to eat foods and junk foods and foods made in restaurants they use raising salts like baking soda which are oxidants and have the potential of causing cancer in the long run.
Although, pickles are high in salt and need to be moderated, they are an essential part of the diet in places where fresh fruits and vegetables are not available for example in deserts of Rajasthan or the snow covered peak in the hills. When pickles are made at home the aseptic precautions taken and fermenting in the sun is used which preserves much of the nutrition and provides longevity to the pickles. Pickles made at home are delicately prepared and handled to contain nutrition and add longevity. Pickles made in restaurants and those available commercially however use preservatives to provide longevity and preservatives are oxidants which have the potential to cause cancer. Much of the nutrition is also lost in the process.
